Please help me reach our Go Fund Me Goal for my father-in-law, Lenny Marucci. He is not one to ask for help so we are doing it for him. This wonderful man is strong, determined and full of life. He can endure a lot of pain (he suffers from arthritis and has a long history of back injuries). While sheltering at home this spring, he was working on his prided van in anticipation of a road trip after the pandemic. He was taking some mild meds for back pain but it just kept getting worse. When his pain became too much, he was taken to the ER and, after assessment, was released with more pain meds. Less than a week later, his pain was only getting worse and he was experiencing a host of other symptoms that were just not normal. In Mid May, his daughter, Christine (an RN) took him back to the ER and asked that certain tests be done and that he be monitored. Doctors found numerous abscesses through his abdomen, back and at the base of his spine. Due to the pandemic, no family was allowed to be with him as he endured multiple tests and procedures, then was released to continue pain and antibiotic treatment at home. Due to the pandemic, patients are often being released too soon. Luckily for him, his daughter was equipped to deal with the complex treatment involving tubes, drains, and IV antibiotics. After a few days home, it became clear he was not improving. If anything, he was getting worse. He needed to go back to the hospital. Christine decided to take him to a different hospital this time, hoping for better care. It was not easy to get him admitted (the hospital wanted to send him back to the original one for insurance reasons), but she was able to do it with assistance from another family member in the health field. Christine was able to stay with him for an extended period of time, and he was better taken care of at the second hospital. Unfortunately, no other visitors were allowed. After another week of hospital care, including more tests, intravenous antibiotics, and blood transfusions, Lenny was able to go home on June 5. Lenny still needs medical care, and is fortunate to have Christine and her husband (an EMT) to help with that. Lenny lives off of his social security and is using his Medicare for most of the expenses, but there are still a lot of out of pocket costs for meds, care, and medical equipment. Just one of his antibiotics after insurance is $600 a day and he will need it through the end of June. Any bit will help offset these expenses. Thank you for taking time to read this. So much happened in such a short time, it is difficult to sum it all up but we knew many of Lenny’s friends and family would want to know what happened. After all of this, Lenny remains covid-negative, thank GOD. We hope all of you stay safe and strong during this crazy year, 2020. This too shall pass! God Bless!